


Up in The Trapeze

by HuiLian



Series: Dick and Dami Week 2019 [5]
Category: DCU (Comics)
Genre: Damian being the kind of kid that the league will produce, Gen, Talon! Dick, Trapeze
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 01:52:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18436580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HuiLian/pseuds/HuiLian
Summary: What should happen afterwards was training. But strangely, Grayson did not lead Damian to the sparring ring. Instead, he led Damian into a room full of… was that trapeze equipment?Grayson was jittery next to him. He gave Damian a smile so wide it should have been fake (but not), and then signed, I thought you might want to try this? Learn trapeze, I mean.





	Up in The Trapeze

**Author's Note:**

> For Dick and Damian Week 2019, Day 5: Training Is this cheating? This is from my Talon! AU fic with Dick and Damian that I have not yet finished (Well, to be fair, I lost the file because my phone went down a toilet, but, yeah.) anyway, enjoy! Maybe this will give me the push needed to finish this fic

It was a day like any other. Grayson went to what could charitably be called work. Damian was left at the Penthouse to do what could charitably be called schoolwork. Then Grayson came back, and they were suiting up for patrol.

What should happen afterwards was training. But strangely, Grayson did not lead Damian to the sparring ring. Instead, he led Damian into a room full of… was that trapeze equipment?

Grayson was jittery next to him. He gave Damian a smile so wide it should have been fake (but not), and then signed, _I thought you might want to try this?_ _Learn trapeze, I mean_.

This was a test. Of course. That was the only explanation. Nobody asked Damian if he wanted to learn something. They simply gave the information to him and expected him to learn. Mother did. Grandfather did. _Father_ did.

So this was a test. Of course. Only Damian did not know what was supposed to be tested. Was it about Damian’s flexibility to learn new things? Was it about his knowledge of Grayson? Or was it about his focus on the mission?

If it was Mother, Damian would say no. Only because this skill has nothing to do with the mission. Acrobatics are one thing, it could, no, it was, useful on the field. But trapeze, not so much.

Damian thought about it, and said, “No.”

Grayson’s smile faded in an instant. It left only hollow eyes, hollow like Damian had never seen before. All of the energy that always seemed to be buzzing underneath Grayson’s skin disappeared.

 _Okay_. Only that. And then Grayson went out of the room.

*

It was Pennyworth who came to Damian in his room. That seemed significant, but Damian could not figure out why.

“Master Damian. May I have a word?”

Damian scoffed. “Even if I say you may not, you will say it anyway, Pennyworth.”

Pennyworth nodded. “Wise, Master Damian.”

“Well?”

“I believe that today Master Dick offered to teach you the trapeze. And I also believe that you refused that offer.”

Is this another test? Was Grayson not satisfied with the previous one, that he sent Pennyworth here to test him again?

“What is the matter with that, Pennyworth?” Damian finally asked.

Pennyworth sighed. “Master Dick had gone through a, difficult, childhood, shall we say. The trapeze is one of the few things that the Court had not taken from him. It was what was left of his time with his parents.”

 “I know all that, Pennyworth!” Damian stood up. He did know all of that. What was the matter? Why did both Grayson and Pennyworth made such a big deal of it?

“That was not all, Master Damian. Please, sit back down.”

Pennyworth waited until Damian had sat back down, and then continued. “Teaching the trapeze is how Master Dick connected his new family with his old one. Every single person he considered family was taught the trapeze at some point. Master Bruce, Miss Barbara, Master Jason, Master Tim, Miss Cassandra, _myself_ , and his closest friends.”

Oh. Oh.

“Teaching _you_ the trapeze is his way of showing you that he had considered you family.”

Damian had miscalculated. Badly.

“Are you certain of this, Pennyworth?”

“Yes, Master Damian. I am quite certain.”

Damian looked down to his lap for a second, and then looked back up to Pennyworth. He had to fix this. If trapeze was Grayson’s way of showing Damian that they are family, then Damian had rejected Grayson’s offer of becoming family.

Months ago, Damian could not care less. He was not there to become family to the other children his father had. He was there to succeed his father. Nothing more, nothing less. But now, well, now Grayson had somehow made Damian cared about him.

Damian had to fix this. Fast.

“How do I fix this, Pennyworth?”

“Well, Master Damian,” Damian could almost hear the smile in his words, even if Pennyworth would do no such mundane thing as smile, “I believe you should ask to be taught.”

*

Damian found Grayson working. Of course. He would not expect any less.

Damian had to play this right. He had already offended Grayson by dismissing his offer of family. He would not offend Grayson furthermore by being callous about this.

“Grayson?” Damian finally settled on saying. He would do more based on Grayson’s reaction.

(If Grayson did not react… No. Grayson will react.)

Grayson did not turn to meet Damian, as he was always wont to do before this. But he stopped typing, at the very least. It was something.

“I.. I had reconsidered your offer. I.. would like to learn the trapeze, if you are still willing to teach it to me.”

 _That_ got Grayson to turn towards Damian. The smile was still missing, but his eyes were not hollow. Progress, Damian thought.

_Do you want to learn?_

“Yes.”

The answer brought a smile to Grayson’s face. Small, yes, but it was a start.

*

_Who ratted me out? Alfred?_

“Nobody ratted anything to me, Grayson. Are you losing your mind?”

_Nah. Just trying to distract you from this._

“Distract me from what?”

A smile. And then the bastard pushed Damian down from the platform. He had made sure that Damian was grasping the bar properly, but still. The bastard pushed Damian down from the platform. Alone.

If Damian was laughing all the way down, well, that was between him and Grayson only, wasn’t it?

(Besides, he was not just laughing all the way down. He laughed throughout the whole lesson, and even more besides. Damian could not recall when he last laughed that much, if even he had laughed that much. The experience was something Damian would not balk at experiencing again.)

***

**Author's Note:**

> check out my tumblr (huilian.tumblr.com)


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